computers

List

4 Famous Hackers Who Got Caught

Just recently we were reminded how delicate our online ecosystem really is when the mysterious group Anonymous took down big websites like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal because they refused to support WikiLeaks. Anonymous is the latest in the fascinating history of hackers who have had their way with supposedly secure computer systems. The big difference – most of the other guys got caught. 1. Kevin... READ ON

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Google Zeitgeist 2010

Each year since 2001, Google releases its Zeitgeist summary, showing various lists of top search terms. By examining these lists, we can figure out something about the year -- or at least about the people who use Google to search during that year. For example, this year (so far), here are the "Fastest Rising" search terms: 1. chatroulette 2. ipad 3. justin bieber 4. nicki minaj 5. friv 6. myxer 7. katy perry 8. twitter 9. gamezer 10. facebook Personally, I don't even know what #4, 5,... READ ON

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"Minority Report" Computing Gets Slightly More Real

Since 2002, the film Minority Report has inspired computer geeks the world over. At the time, touch interfaces were relatively rare, and where they did exist, they were typically limited to one finger at a time. In the film, Tom Cruise's character famously interacts with his computer by standing in front of a projected screen and basically waving his hands at it, manipulating objects without even touching them. In the film, computers had lept past mere touch, and moved to gestures, performed in the air.... READ ON

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Practical Advice on Saving Digital Photos

Most of us (okay, virtually all of us) have tons of digital photos floating around -- many are on our computers, some are on photo-sharing sites, some might even be printed (imagine that) and hanging on a wall or pasted in a book. But what happens if your computer, or your photo-sharing service, goes away? What happens if you save the images on a proprietary format, then want to look at them in 40 years, but that format can no longer be read by computers of the time? The answer is complex, and... READ ON

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Google Has Self-Driving Cars That Work Today

If you've been wondering where your jet-pack is, you may have to settle for Google's self-driving car. It's a research project (not in mass production yet), but test cars are already on the road and the New York Times reports that the cars have already driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and over 140,000 miles with "only occasional human control." Yes, engineers have been in the cars the whole time, and paying attention, but it's clear where this is going. The robo-cars operate by driving... READ ON

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You're Stealing it Wrong: 30 Years of Inter-Pirate Battles

Computer historian Jason Scott recently gave a talk at Defcon 18 about the history of software piracy. Now, you wouldn't normally sit down to think about software piracy, but Scott has, and managed to put together an hour-long presentation on the subject. It's well worth a look, and not just for computer nerds -- Scott starts with some digital ephemera (including the previously linked 1929 LOL Cat and Chicago Gang Business Cards), then sets into the core of his talk on the history of piracy, the history... READ ON

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"Oregon Trail" Mini-Documentary (1996)

In 1996, MECC released Oregon Trail II, an updated version of the calssic Oregon Trail computer game. In the new version, a historian added various details, and some attention was given to women and minorities (who were, if I recall correctly, completely absent from the early versions of the game). The video below was included on a "Collector's Edition" release of Oregon Trail II, and it's part documentary, part promo for the new game. It's worth a look, as it recounts 25 years of Oregon Trail gaming... READ ON

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Information Pioneers: Sir Clive Sinclair

Growing up, my family had a series of early personal computers -- a Sinclair ZX81, a TI 99/4A, and even an early IBM Portable (which was not as portable as its name suggested). Today, let's talk about that Sinclair machine. The ZX81 was dirt cheap and extremely hard to type on, thanks to its membrane keyboard. But did I mention the dirt cheap part? Because of its price (in the US the Timex-produced variant was under $100 in the early 1980s), it was accessible to a very broad audience. It was also, if... READ ON

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The First Computer Programmer: Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron and the Countess of Lovelace, is considered the first computer programmer, despite having died in 1852 -- long before computers were actually built. Through her collaboration with Charles Babbage, Lovelace wrote "sequences of instructions" (programs) for Babbage's early mechanical computer (well, computer in theory -- it wasn't actually built until rather recently). Lovelace saw the potential of Babbage's computer as a device that could do more than... READ ON

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More on IBM's Jeopardyputer

I mentioned Watson, IBM's Jeopardy-playing computer, back in February. But the details were a little thin back then. Now, the New York Times Magazine has a full profile of Watson, and it sounds like this thing is a monster. IBM has been staging "live" games and plans to pit Watson against former TV champions later this year (note to TV people: please televise this). As Andy Baio (of Waxy.org) said: "Ken Jennings, you're our only hope!" Here's a taste: Over the rest of the day, Watson went on a... READ ON